Satan (Lords of Shadow)
Satan is the name of the Devil in the Abrahamic religions. He is the fallen archangel Lucifer who was cast out of Heaven and onto Hell as punishment for leading the revolt of the angels and attempting to become equal to or greater than God. He is also known as Iblis, Angra Mainyu, Kanaima, Mephistopheles, and the Prince of Darkness, among many other names and terms, but is mostly referred to as the Devil above all. He is also one of the main antagonists of the Lords of Shadow series along with Zobek, as well as the archnemesis of Gabriel Belmont. Story ''Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Satan is the main antagonist of ''Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. When searching Hell for a way to assemble the God Mask, Satan secretly possessed Zobek, endowing him with a vast amount of knowledge and power, and implanted the idea to use an elaborate charade to obtain his goals. Presumably, this is how Zobek obtained the Devil Mask. As such, he is mainly responsible for all Zobek's following actions, especially his manipulation of Gabriel and the spell that separated the world from the heavens. When Zobek reveals to his machinations to Gabriel, he in turn reveals himself and his part to him. He incinerates Zobek and takes form from out of his host's body, and explains to Gabriel his intention of ascending to Heaven to challenge God and take His place. He offers Gabriel a chance to join him, but he refuses. Satan and Gabriel then engage in combat. Despite his power and badly injuring Gabriel near the end of the fight, he is defeated, and Gabriel maintains a choke hold over Satan. Satan still tries to convince Gabriel that God has betrayed him, and when he ignores him, he begins to taunt Gabriel, saying that he will "introduce Marie to such pleasures" in Hell. Gabriel tells Satan that her soul will go only to God, and Satan begins to laugh. After this, Gabriel shines with an intense light, finally vanquishing Satan, and undoes the spell keeping the lost souls on Earth. ''Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 By modern times, the acolytes of Satan prepare for his imminent return. This spurs Zobek to search for Gabriel (now known as Dracula) so that they may prevent Satan from returning and taking revenge on both of them. Dracula accepts Zobek's offer, but must reclaim his powers before facing his nemesis. Upon being returned to the mortal world by his last acolyte, Satan brutally slays him for his offspring's failures to defeat Dracula over the centuries while he was imprisoned in Hell. He speaks with Dracula about potentially sharing the world, but he sees that Dracula wants to kill him out of vengeance. Proclaiming that if he can not rule men's world, then no one else will, Satan proceeds to summon a massive beast in order to annihilate it. Dracula and his son Alucard jump onto the beast and manage to subdue it before Satan can destroy the world. As they fall, Satan possesses Alucard's body and engages Dracula in combat. Defeated, Satan and Dracula fall to the ground. Satan begins to taunt Dracula, calling him by his real name and claiming that his feelings would not allow him to sacrifice his own son in order to stop him. When Dracula refutes his claims and prepares to deliver the final blow, Satan fearfully flees from Alucard's body in attempt to escape. However, expecting this, Dracula pins Satan to a nearby building and impales him through the heart with his old Vampire Killer weapon, killing him once and for all. Appearance Satan has pale, white skin and numerous veins appearing in his face and body. He doesn't use any type of clothing. However, his body is covered by a black aura from his waist to his legs. His hair is black just like the aura, and the globe of his eyes are also black, but the iris is a light-yellow. Such a dark appearance is likely due to the fact that he embraced his pride and hate, corrupting himself and falling from grace. In ''Lords of Shadow 2, his appearance is significantly altered. He is much taller, capable of towering over his arch nemesis, also his build is no longer lean but more muscular and larger in proportion. His hands and forearms are now covered in what appears to be black matter. His upper body part is completely exposed, excluding the lower part that is clad in an exoskeleton that is made up of what seems to be, thick metallic plates resembling feathers (in a fashion quite similar to the Forgotten One) and the feet are equipped with sharp talons. On his lower back near his waist is a pair of large dark feathered wings. He still retains his long black hair, though it is significantly shorter than it was in Lords of Shadow. The iris of his eyes are now purple. Personality Satan is very prideful, arrogant and manipulative. He was the real mastermind behind all the events of Lords of Shadow and has manipulated Zobek and the other Lords of Shadow to acquire the God Mask for his own means. He will try to manipulate every being to reach his purpose and refers to his rebellion as if he was just doing the right thing and says that he was abandoned by his Father, a feeling that he believes he and Gabriel share. With a very persistent attitude, Satan tries to continue his fight against the Almighty and declares that he will use the mask to accomplish his objective. Satan's arrogance and sense of entitlement is so great that he feels it is his divine right to rule by God's side as either His equal or even superior and rule over mortals who he views as "monkeys" that are too inferior to deserve redemption. Satan also attempts to act as a "king," and tries to show that he's far greater and more compassionate than God, principally when he falsely claims to a distraught Gabriel that he would love him more (though this may have been simply him trying to throw Gabriel of guard so as to tempt him to his side) Despite all of this, he shows anger against God because of his fall. Satan is also shown to have a sort of cowardly side. During the final battle with Gabriel, instead of facing him personally as before, he chooses to possess the body of Gabriel's son Alucard, claiming that he would hold back and refuse to kill his own son to stop him. When Gabriel is seemingly about to deliver the final blow to the possessed Alucard, Satan cowardly flees from the body at the last second in a desperate attempt to save his life. Powers and abilities As an Archangel, Satan is an extremely powerful entity. His power is said to be unimaginable on Earth. However, he is drastically weakened while chained to the earthly plane, until the efforts of the Acolytes allowed him to use the full extent of his powers. At full strength, Satan's power was described as being so great Zobek's power paled compared to Satan's and only Dracula with all his powers can defeat Satan. As an immortal Archangel, Satan is immortal and cannot be killed by any conventional means or even most supernatural means. He has been alive since the beginning of time. The only known means to kill him is the Vampire Killer. Although he could not use all of his powers while bound, Satan still displayed immense powers and great combat might, challenging and even inflicting severe injuries on Gabriel before being ultimately defeated. Satan has powerful pyrokinetic powers, not only able to easily conjure a rain of meteoric fireballs, but he is even shown to be able to easily burn a being as powerful as Zobek alive. Apparently, he can warp the physical reality, as he seems to control the appearance of the scenario when he "gets serious", changing it to an obscure area with green lightning. Satan displayed sufficient levels of superhuman strength, speed, agility and reflexes, despite being weakened, to challenge Gabriel as well as incredible durability, stamina, recovery, and endurance that allowed him to withstand Gabriel's attacks without showing any signs of significant damage and only meager fatigue that he could potentially quickly recover from if not stopped. He is able to manifest a pair of shadowy wings in his back to fly but he can also levitate under his own power, although his wings grant him superior maneuverability. He also had telekinetic powers, as he was able to reconstruct the ground he crashed into and summon his staff back to him with his mind. He could also sense the presence of other beings and magic. Satan also possess vast knowledge of arcane lore and immense magical powers, as he was able to grant tremendous magical knowledge and power to Zobek. He also was able to somehow use the God Mask to gain more power despite Marie saying the Mask's only true power is to see through God's eyes and he also utilized a black staff that glows with white energy as not only a symbol of authority and as a weapon, but also to aid him in more intensely and properly using his powers. He displayed incredible skill in the use of both Light and Shadow Magic, turning the staff either blue or red whenever he uses it, to the point he can cast destructive spells such as a wave of force that created fissures in the earth by striking it with the base of his staff, and manifesting a wave of fire by striking the earth with the top of his staff, although it is likely that the staff amplified or at least aided in the use of his weakened magical prowess, or even summon demonic Reapers from other planes that can only be destroyed by the opposite magic and also create with his hands, magical seals that has the capacity to restrain Gabriel's movements so Satan can attack him freely and can also be used protect Satan when he's very weakened to buy time for him to recover, damaging him should he walk in using the opposite magic. The seals can only be passed by using the same type of magic they are made of from as a barrier. Having a very proficient usage of both Light and Shadow Magic makes him perhaps the most tricky opponent, notably even more so than Pan as his speed in switching between them is much faster. His use of them is also unlimited and he cannot be affected by regular attacks and only attacks of the opposite magic he is using can hurt him. He also was accomplished in using his staff for melee attacks, as he could clash against Gabriel in a ferocious duel and was even able to inflict two severe wounds on the greatest warrior the Brotherhood ever had before being disarmed. He was also skilled enough in martial arts to block some of Gabriel's blows and even hit him at times whenever they fought fist-to-fist. Upon becoming able to use the full extent of his powers, Satan becomes even more mightily formidable in battle, as he proves to be a difficult challenge to Dracula with all of his powers. He gains the ability to manipulate elemental darkness and his powers over it was shown to be quite potent and proficiently used: he can project shadowy liquid as shockwaves, produce a huge typhoon of darkness, create a giant hand made of shadow that he uses as an extended "whip attack", and even summon 7 meteors made of darkness and all of the attacks will leave remnants of the shadowy liquid that can damage Dracula if he moves to them. He also becomes able to transform into a shadowy mist that he can use to possess others and he also employs it effectively in combat by being able to quickly transform into mist to avoid Dracula's attacks and then swiftly re-assume his physical form and attack him often before he could react. He displayed the power to levitate without his wings once again and covered himself in a flaming aura and rushed to the arena he and Gabriel had been fighting in with enough force to destroy it utterly. His physical strength, speed and reflexes have became even greater, as he is shown to be capable of easily ripping out the skin of Guido's head from his bones with only one finger and being able to react to and counter as well as block most of Dracula's dramatically faster and stronger attacks compared to the last time he fought Gabriel. He is more durable and enduring, as he could take many blows from Dracula's weapons and shrug them off with no visible injury to his person and was able to quickly stand up after being knocked down briefly by Dracula. He also displays outstanding proficiency in swordsmanship, manifesting a powerful great sword and using it with incredible efficiency and proficiency, capable of performing almost always unblockable barrages of sword attacks, in addition to also using swift uppercuts and powerful sword lunges in both the ground and air and his skill with the sword allows him to go up against Dracula's own overwhelming skills in combat, although he was ultimately defeated. He also displays his great strength by being able to lift and wield the heavy sword without showing any strain, although he still has to be careful and slow when swinging it. In battle ''Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Although Satan is the Final Boss of the game (excluding The Forgotten One), it is not a particularly difficult foe to defeat, although it can prove tricky to an unprepared player, specially if they aren't very knowledgeable in the use of Light and Shadow Magic as it requires a far more accentuated use of both to defeat Satan, even more so than Pan. For the battle both magic meters will be unlimited so they will never drain down. In order to defeat Satan the player must attack him with either magic activated as standards attacks do not work. Satan will also himself employ Magic at all times so the player must strike him with the opposite magic in order to do any damage (i.e. when Satan glows red use Light Magic, when Satan glows blue use Shadow Magic). While doing so, however, since Gabriel will also be using the opposite magic as Satan, if ever hit with one of his attacks, it can do massive damage, although nothing to worry about as so long as Gabriel can strike Satan with the proper magic his HP will heal up (even if using Shadow Magic), therefore the key to victory is to know what kind of magic to use. Satan's attacks mostly consist of short range physical attacks and sometimes a downward strike and shockwave, although none of these are necessarily lethal and can be mitigated by striking back (and by proxy healing oneself) consistently. Satan will at times launch several Red and Blue colored glows that can become two things (never intermixed): A set of Runes or a set of Reapers. If runes are cast on the floor, the player must use magic that matches the color of the rune in order to walk freely, as walking with the opposite color will trap the player and leave him bound to be stricken by Satan for massive damage. However, before Satan can perform the strike one can deactivate the magic and free himself before the attack, and one can also change back to the same magic that Satan is using at the moment they will suffer no damage. If Satan summons Reapers, the player must handle these with more care, as an attack from a Reaper can deal massive damage (and even kill the player in higher difficulties). To repel the Reapers the same formula applies, basically strike them with the opposite magic in order to destroy them. After debilitating Satan and removing close to 20% of his HP, he will be rendered exhausted and will summon Runes to protect himself. The player must walk through the Runes shifting with the adequate color and then continue to start a button sequence. After that Satan will eventually conjure meteoric fireballs which the player should dodge. The rest of the battle is the same as usual. Once Satan as the last of his HP, he will summon Runes although they will also move as well adding a new layer of trickery. Once the player reaches Satan for the second time, the final button sequence will player and once successful they will defeat Satan. ''Trial Mode For the Trial Mode the player must be more careful in avoiding attacks and should approach the battle with a hit and run tactics. Worth of noting is that the Trial is saved upon checkpoints. Therefore, if the player was able to uphold the Trial conditions up to that point and then lose it on the second half of the battle, they can simply, manually return to the last checkpoint and the player will be able to play from that point onward with the Trial still valid, thus reducing any potential frustration. ''Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 Satan is the final boss of the game and possesses Alucard. Unlike before, Satan uses a sword and his powers of darkness instead of Light and Shadow Magic. Quotes Castlevania: Lords of Shadow *''Father! I come for you... Before the end YOU will bow down to ME! * I was adored once, above all others... I too did not deserve to be cast out, abandoned, you now know what that feels like, don't you? *''Hate can bring us back, give us strength. Embrace it!'' * You monkeys don't deserve redemption, it is MY divine right to rule by his side as an equal. Or perhaps more than that! * You dare to challenge me? You will die for you blasphemy! Your soul belong to me! *''Bow down to me, it's Satan who commands you!'' *''Didn't Pan teach﻿ you anything?'' *''You have been fooled Gabriel! She is gone forever!'' *''Surely you can do better than that, Gabriel!'' *''God doesn't love you! He let your beloved die!'' *''I will wipe the name of Belmont from this world forever!'' *''Die Belmont!'' *''Damn you, Gabriel!'' *''You think you can defeat me?!'' *''Surrender your weapon, and I'll show you mercy!'' *''Impossible! ...is ...that ...the power of God?'' *''No! Stay back from me!'' ''Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 *''I despise incompetence. *''Your son wants to serve me. Why don't you?'' *''Alucard has surrendered to me without reservation.'' *''Join us, Gabriel. Let's form a trinity.'' *''Don't hit me, father!'' *''Argh! It's your son who is suffering, not me!'' *''Alucard only longed for your power, Gabriel, I know that now.'' *''Your son hates you, Gabriel. What did you do to him?'' *''Alucard's plan was always to betray you.'' *''How much punishment can this body endure?'' *''Your hate for me gives my life direction. Deep down inside, you need me!'' *''When this is over, you'll bow down at my feet!'' *''I'll sink you in a darkness that you'll never get out of!'' *''I'll crush your will! I'll do it!'' Enemy Data }} Gallery :See: Satan (Lords of Shadow)/Gallery Trivia *A concept art of Satan's Beast form hints the final boss battle against him in Lords of Shadow 2 could have been different. The Beast looks like a red dragon with multiple crowned heads, and shares similarities with the Leviathan.The Art of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (Titan Books).This form is also based on the dragon being represented by Satan himself from the book of Revelation of the Bible where it said in chapter 12 verse 3: :"And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads." *Many of Satan's taunts during his battle in Lords of Shadow 2 are lies, which is consistent for him since he's known as the "Father of Lies" and the "Author of Confusion". *Lucifer and Satan are often confused in the popular Christian worldview. However, this is the result of a mistranslation of the original Greek Bible into the first English translation (the King James Bible) referring to them as one of the same. Both Christian scholars and demonologists striving for accuracy refer to Satan as the leader of hell, with Lucifer, Beelzebub and Astaroth jointly serving directly below him. There is another Satan by the name of Samael, who would act as the "accuser" and even the Angel of Death. Some scholars argue that "Lucifer" isn't even actually a proper name, "...but a descriptive phrase meaning “morning star”. Still, the name stuck and the Devil is often referred to as Lucifer."https://www.history.com/topics/folklore/history-of-the-devil **Interestingly enough, Jason Isaacs, the voice of Satan, also dubbed Lucifer's character in the game El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron, released one year after the first Lords of Shadow. *It is possible that Satan's physical appearance could be a sign of how much power he is able to wield. In the first game, Satan was very thin and could only use Light and Shadow magic. In the second game, he has a much bulkier physique and can use his powers over darkness. These, however, are just human forms and likely look nothing like his true, Angelic form. *Satan and his antagonism toward Dracula are given a humorous reference in the Mega64 joke trailer promoting Lords of Shadow 2 during Konami's 2013 pre-E3 show, where he arises from what is presumably Hell in the dead of night in front of a Dracula cosplayer named Jeff and challenges him to their final fight, only for "Dracula" to admit in a evidently fearful manner that he's not actually Dracula, causing Satan to sheepishly apologize before returning back to Hell the same way he came.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12d8yP4f5F4 References es:Satán Category:Antagonists Category:Army of Satan Category:Biblical Monsters Category:Deceased Characters Category:Demons Category:Male Characters Category:Lords of Shadow Bosses Category:Lords of Shadow Characters Category:Lords of Shadow 2 Bosses Category:Lords of Shadow 2 Characters